Airline Review: Aeromexico

This was my first time to fly in Aeromexico. I flew twice, one international and one domestic. The first was from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Benito Juarez-Mexico City International Airport in Mexico City, and the second one was from Mexico City to Cancun International Airport.

One of AeroMexico's Embraer 175 jets, in Benito Juarez Airport

Booking and Fare

I booked my flight to Mexico City through Delta.com, as Aeromexico and Delta belong to the Skyteam alliance and they have a code share agreement. It was DL8116 on my ticket but the operating flight was AM18. I paid $181 for one-way Class T fare. I booked early, about 10 weeks before, so the price that I got was a bit low, just marginally more expensive than that of Volaris, the Mexican budget airline, on the same segment. Class T is a discounted fare, but I get 100% of the miles credited to my Skymiles account.

The cabin of the 767-200. Note the LCD screen in the center, and the smaller ones on the side

As Delta still counts miles flown as the basis for awarding miles, I got 1,553 miles for this flight. Things will change starting 2015 though, as Delta will then award miles based on dollar spent, not on miles flown. I purchased my ticket to my second flight through the Aeromexico website, also ten weeks early. My Tourista class fare cost $141, including fees. The miles for this flight also accrued to my Delta Skymiles account, earning me 800 miles. My fare includes one free check-in and one carry-on luggage for both sectors.

The seats in 767-200 Turista class

Aircraft The aircraft that they used for Los Angeles-Mexico City was a Boeing 737-800, which is a single aisle aircraft. We took a bigger plane on the domestic flight, with the MEX-CUN flight utilizing a Boeing 767-200 aircraft. It was my second time to fly in a 767, the first one was on Delta, from Narita to San Francisco. I was hoping I would be able to fly on Aeromexico's new Boeing 787, but tough luck. Those planes are used on their transcontinental flights. I saw one of their 787s in Narita when I flew back to Manila (top photo). Aeromexico also uses the smaller Embraer 175 jets for some regional routes within Mexico; I saw several of those aircraft in the airport.

Premier seats (business class)

Cabin and AmenitiesSeats

The cabin of the 737 is divided into three areas: Premier (business class), Tourist Plus, and Tourist. The last two are economy classes, with a typical 3-3 layout. The Plus seats though have wider legroom, 3 inches more, and 1.5" more recline. Both have 17 inch-wide seats. I was seated in 20F, a window seat. I'm not exactly big, so I fit in my seat just OK, but the flight was full so the cabin was a bit cramped when everyone was seated. I got more space during the domestic leg, as it utilized the larger 767-200, and it was only about a fifth full. There were only two classes in the cabin, Premier and Tourist. The seats in the economy class, arranged in 2-3-2 configuration, are wider, 17.9", with 32-inch pitch. I also got a window seat, and I don't have a seat mate so more legroom and elbow room for me.

FoodAs the flight is about 4 hours they did serve drinks (wine, soda or juice), a bag of peanuts or pretzels, and a sandwich to the passengers. I supposed the people in Premier got something better than we did in coach. They did not serve any snacks during the MEX-CUN flight, as "it was a short flight," according to the stewardess.

The sandwich and bag of nuts they served during LAX-MEX

In-flight Entertainment

There is no on-demand entertainment system in the coach section of the 737. Rather there are several overhead LCD screens that show the same movie for everyone, a Spanish-language one that I did not really pay attention. There were no free headphones too.

There is also no on-demand entertainment system in Tourist class in the domestic flight, but there was a large screen up front showing a movie. If you don't like watching the movie, you can always read the magazine. Aeromexico has one, called Aire.

The overhead screen in the 737-700

Frequent Flyer Program

Aeromexico has its own frequent flyer miles program called Club Premier, but as a member of SkyTeam alliance, you may opt to have the miles accrued to your program of choice. Delta Skymiles in my case. You can earn miles by flying through the airline or any of the SkyTeam members. There are also bonus miles that you earn if you sign up for the program or if you buy tickets on certain dates, like during your birthday. As mentioned, I earned 1,553 miles for the LAX-MEX leg, and another 800 miles for MEX-CUN flight, all credited to my Delta Skymiles account. I can redeem those miles from any SkyTeam member airline.

The cabin of the 737-700

Schedule

There was already a line when I got there, mostly composed of passengers checking in on the same flight that I was in. It took about 15 minutes for me to check in.The 7 am flight from LAX was actually on time leaving the gate, and it also arrived on time.

I think there was a slight delay on my flight to Cancun, about 20-30 minutes, as there was no available gate for the aircraft in Benito Juarez Airport. Our gate was only designated about 30 minutes before boarding time, and it was at the end of Terminal 2, which is a bit of a walk from the terminal entrance.

Gate 24 in LAX

Customer Service

Both flights are uneventful for me so I did not interact much with the customer service, or even with the flight attendants. Booking in the website was pretty much straightforward, and I got several emails that notify me about the upcoming flight. In the LAX gate, the crew was helpful enough. I have only one piece of luggage to check in, and they didn't lose it so I was OK. I did notice a flight attendant handling an issue during the LAX-MEX leg. As it was full, not everyone were able to put their carry-on on the overhead bin, including the guy sitting beside me. Apparently he has an onward flight to Peru and he did not want to bag-drop his carry on in the jet bridge, so he was very agitated the whole time. He was arguing with the flight attendant, who was stern and did not bulge. The passenger was left muttering under his breath that he'd never take Aeromexico again. I don't actually agree with him.

The Aeromexico 737-700 flying over Baja California

Overall Impressions

Nothing untoward happened to me during the two flights I flew in, so generally my overall impression with the airline is positive. I did note in the survey that they sent me that the flight attendants can be a aloof, but probably is just me.Useful InfoAeromexico website: aeromexico.com

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